Jacqueline
by HoldoutTrout
Summary: An accident leaves Jack in an interesting predicament. SamJack.


Title: Jacqueline

Author: Holdouttrout

Ship: Sam/Jack

Category: Genderswap, sort of.

* * *

Sam, Daniel, and Teal'c looked worried as they made their way down the ramp. Behind them, the wormhole's event horizon shimmered.

General Hammond greeted them as they stepped down from the metal grating. "Where's Colonel O'Neill?"

Inexplicably, Daniel snickered. Sam gave him a glare. Teal'c raised an eyebrow.

Teal'c answered for them. "O'Neill was reluctant to return."

Hammond frowned and opened his mouth to speak.

Just before he said anything, another figure stepped through the 'gate.

She was wearing BDU's that looked just slightly too big for her, and her boots made clomping noises as if her feet were loose inside. Her hair was short for a woman, and peppered with grey. Her face was lined, slightly, as if she spent a lot of time...not smiling. As she came down the ramp, Hammond nearly gave the order for the SFs to get ready, but something in her eyes made him pause.

"Jack?" he said incredulously.

Daniel snickered again.

Jack glared. "General. We have a problem." His--her--voice was still gruff, but much higher than normal.

Everyone in the room had dropped any pretense of not staring.

Hammond shook his head, opened his mouth to say something, and stopped. He sighed. "You better go to the infirmary."

Jack looked resigned. "Ya think?"

Half an hour later, Janet was busy running tests and SG-1 was gathered in the briefing room.

Daniel was filling in the story while Jack twirled a pen absently, scowling at the polished wood.

"...so, the inhabitants refer to this as a great blessing, and they assured me it was a temporary thing."

Jack raised his head. "It better be. This is...uncomfortable."

Daniel said, "Yes, well, Geran seemed to think that this...change...would last for several days. Maybe weeks. According to him, no one's been "honored" this way for generations. It's really fascinating--their most revered poet of the last century had apparently had this happen to her and wrote many works about the experience. She said it was quite unique."

Sam said, "Just think, sir. This could be a once in a lifetime opportunity to--"

"Ah!" Jack raised his hand, "Carter, if you so much as reference "What Women Want," I'm going to demote you."

Carter subsided. Teal'c said, "I thought that was a most enjoyable movie, O'Neill."

Jack stared. For that matter, so did Hammond.

Hammond finally spoke up. "Okay. I'm gonna have to confine you to base, Colonel, until you return to normal. And, I suppose we'll have to...work around this, somehow."

Jack looked unhappy.

"I'm sure Janet will do everything possible to speed up your recovery. Dismissed."

Over the next six days, the base gradually got used to seeing Jack ("If I so much as hear someone say the name Jacqueline in my presence I'll kick their ass.") barking orders and generally skulking around. In fact, by the seventh day, people were so used to his appearance that Sam's assistant barely even gave him a second glance as she passed him in the hall. And that, Jack suspected, was mostly because his hair, while perfectly normal on a man, was too short, even for the most daring women. He was actually a little concerned about that. And more concerned he was concerned.

He entered Sam's lab.

"Sending your assistants home but not going yourself, I see."

Sam looked up. "Sir! I was just finishing--"

"Yeah, yeah. Save it for someone you can still fool. What'cha up to, Carter?"

Sam pointed to a piece of equipment in front of her. "This is a jamming device. At least, we think it's a jamming device. When it was on earlier the cameras in here stopped functioning, but that could just be a secondary effect. I'm trying to find the power source."

Jack pulled up a stool, scowling when he had to stretch farther than usual to reach it. Sam barely gave him a glance.

"I don't suppose they used Energizer, then."

Sam smiled. "Doesn't look like it. But if I can take a look at whatever they did use...we could really use a long-lasting power source this small."

Jack peered over her shoulder. "How will you know when you find it?"

Sam pointed to a monitor hooked up on the far end of her desk. "That's set up on the feed. If it goes off again, I'll have isolated the source."

Jack looked into the monitor and saw that it was showing them sitting behind Sam's table. He moved back and forth and watched his image mirror him.

"That is just too weird."

"What is, sir?"

Jack gestured toward the screen. Sam followed his gaze and then turned to him, raising her eyebrow.

Jack sighed. "This, Carter!" He motioned toward himself. "It's still weird! And no one seems to notice anymore. Janet told me today that I'll just have to wait for it to wear off. And that's if it wears off at all. For all we know, it could be permanent!"

Sam looked startled. "I didn't realize it was bothering you so much."

"Yeah, well." Jack settled back on his stool, tipping it back a little. "My center of gravity is all screwed up, I've gotten to know more about women in the last few days than I ever wanted to know in my whole life, and yesterday an airman hit on me before his buddy clued him in."

Sam stifled a grin, but put down her tools. "Sir..."

But Jack was finished. He shook his head. "Forget I said anything, Carter."

After a long moment, in which Jack's jaw set determinedly, she nodded and went back to poking at the device in front of her. Almost immediately, the monitor screen crackled and snow replaced the picture.

"Finally!" Sam exclaimed. She said, "Now for the tweezers...where did I leave them?" She started rifling through the items on top of the desk. Jack spotted them behind her on the counter.

He leaned backward behind Sam and grabbed them, but overbalanced and toppled, taking Sam with him. They landed in a heap on the floor, with Jack mostly on top.

Jack swore. "Sorry, Carter."

Sam took a couple of breaths. "I'm okay, sir. Just got the wind knocked out of me."

"Talk about your cliches" he said ruefully. Still, Sam's legs were tangled in his, her breath brushing his cheek, and his arms were bent, leaving his face only inches from hers.

She smelled really, really good.

He leaned closer.

Just before his lips touched hers, she said, "Sir..."

He pulled back abruptly. "Shit." How could he have been so stupid? That kind of thing wasn't supposed to happen.

Sam looked embarrassed. "Sir, it's not...I mean...its just..." she waved her hands helplessly.

Jack sat back, and Sam scooted out from underneath him. He sighed. "I know, Carter. In the room."

Sam's cheeks got redder. "That's not exactly what I meant, sir."

Now Jack was curious. He gave Sam a questioning look.

She gestured again. "It's, well, ah...you're not exactly yourself, still. Sir."

It took him a minute, but he got there. "Oh. Oh!" Now it was his turn to blush--and he did blush, which he was going to swear was a result of his altered state. "Right. Um...I'm just gonna. Leave. And...do something." He stood up.

Sam grabbed the tweezers from the floor where they'd fallen and got up, too.

She said, "I'll...see you later, then."

Jack nodded sharply and left as quickly as his legs would carry him. Halfway down the hall, a thought struck him. He turned around and poked his head back into the lab.

"Hey, Carter?"

Sam's head jerked up.

"Rain check?"

Sam blinked, then grinned. "Sure, sir. I think I'll...work on this project another day." She gave a significant glance toward the monitor, and Jack caught the implication.

"Right then. Some other time."

And he left, sauntering down the hall and attempting to learn how to whistle with lips that weren't quite what he was used to.


End file.
